It’s been a gentle start to our crossing from the Canary Islands towards Senegal, starting with a Sunday at Sea. We spent the day sailing slowly past the iconic island of Tenerife until the light wind died completely so we took in all sail and fired up the main engine to make some headway through […]
PICTON CASTLE got underway under sail from La Gomera at 0830 this morning. We’re bound for Dakar, expecting a passage of around 8 days. The weather is bright sunshine with light airs, we have all square sails set to the royals. Vai is at the helm steering South by West to leave Tenerife astern of
We’re making ready for the next passage: we will depart for Dakar, Senegal tomorrow morning. That means we’ve been busy loading food, water and fuel, getting the bilges pumped and decks oiled, sails bent and everything stowed so the ship is ready to go to sea. It also means making sure the crew are trained
It’s a public holiday for Epiphany here in the Canary Islands. Last night there was a parade through town to the church, complete with the three wise men riding real camels – we saw the camels come across on the ferry from Tenerife! Meanwhile, aboard ship the watch have been switching out our strong, heavy
Picton Castle has arrived at our Christmas port of La Gomera, in the sunny Canary Islands a few hundred miles off the coast of Africa. Our first day in port today and we sent down both steel lower topsail yards for inspection and some routine maintenance. We used the windlass and our own crew: no
Sailed past the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura this morning, leaving them 35 miles off to port. It seems like we only just left Africa, and already we’re in the Canary Islands, expecting to sail past Tenerife and arrive at La Gomera tomorrow. SHIP’S WORK: Sunday at sea. This passage is a short one so
It was the final ditty bag workshop today: fitting the wooden bottom and splicing on a becket for the handle and there you have it: a properly made canvas bag to keep your ditties in. The night watches started baking overnight tonight – got to lay in plenty of cookies and treats for Christmas! SHIP’S
A clear, sunny day of light airs. The Captain declared it a crime to motor on such a fine day so we shut down the engine and set all sails early in the morning, and had a gorgeous day of sailing slowly before taking in sail and steaming overnight to make up time. This afternoon’s
After a wonderful 6-day port stop in Morocco, we hauled up the anchor and got underway this morning, bound for our Christmas port in the Canary Islands, a little over four hundred nautical miles away. SHIP’S WORK: Continue to slush the rig, install new main topmast staysail halyard strop, continue overhauling flemish horses, chip &
The off-going watch (4-8) took our beautiful boat Momonoy out for a sail this morning before heading off for their two days ashore. It was quite a relaxed work day aboard the ship for the on-watch: getting lots of coats of paint on various open projects and slushing the rig with a tarry mixture while
